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After taking a look back at the John Ratzenberger cameo in House II: The Second Story, the beginning of House of 1000 Corpses, the awesomeness of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, the leg smashing in the Stephen King adaptation Misery, three separate moments from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, the “Jason vs. Tina” battle in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, the “all hell breaks loose” sequence from the start of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake, the opening sequence of Pitch Black, a cool moment from The Crow, a memorable shark attack from Jaws 2, a creepy moment from Lost Highway, the climactic factory chase sequence from Child’s Play 2, the “Stigmata Martyr” dance scene from Night of the Demons, the beginning of Strange Days, and the Tech Noir club scene from The Terminator, JoBlo’s own Lance Vlcek is...

Stars: Andrew Divoff, Tammy Lauren, Robert Englund, Ted Raimi, George “Buck” Flower, Reggie Bannister, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Chris Lemmon, Wendy Benson-Landes, Tony Crane, Jenny O’Hara, Ricco Ross, John Byner, Gretchen Palmer, Angus Scrimm | Written by Peter Atkins | Directed by Robert Kurtzman

Special makeup supremo Robert Kurtzman directs this 1997 homage to 1980s horror, and while its gross-out effects are impressive, the plot, characters and script leave much to be desired.

Wishmaster opens in 12th century Persia, and a royal party in chaos: people are mutating, skinning themselves, turning inside out, that sort of thing. It seems the king has made a deal with a Djinn, a mythical demon who will grant three wishes. On the third wish, a portal will open and the Djinn (plural) will be unleashed and take over the world of men. Or something. Thankfully, this Djinn is banished thanks to an opal made of blood.

Stars: Andrew Divoff, Tammy Lauren, Robert Englund, Ted Raimi, George “Buck” Flower, Reggie Bannister, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Chris Lemmon, Wendy Benson-Landes, Tony Crane, Jenny O’Hara, Ricco Ross, John Byner, Gretchen Palmer, Angus Scrimm | Written by Peter Atkins | Directed by Robert Kurtzman

Wishmaster is one of those movies that is a treat for horror geeks. Featuring some of the genre’s most iconic actors part of the fun is hunting out all the Easter eggs that are so easy to spot. The question is, on revisiting the film, does The Djinn (Andrew Divoff) still have what it takes to make your dreams come true?

When a Persian statue of Ahura Mazda is broken, a red jewel is discovered within. Given to Alexandra Amberson (Tammy Lauren) to evaluate for auction, she accidentally awakens the Djinn inside. While capturing more souls inside the jewel, he chases down Alexandra with the aim...

I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but I can often spend hours upon hours trawling through iTunes looking for new movies to buy… Usually I’ll randomly come across a title I haven’t seen in years and use the “Cast & Crew” links to make my way down the rabbit hole to the more obscure side of Apple’s digital movie service.

Now whilst many will decry that iTunes is a terrible VOD service due to Apple’s desire to lock its audience to their platforms, if you have an Apple TV or iPad be aware – there are some truly obscure films hidden away in the depths of the vast collection of movies. Some of which have been made available in the UK for the first time since VHS and a Lot that have been added to the service in their original uncut form!

So, with...

I was surprised by The Wedding Ringer. Actually, I should clarify that statement: I didn’t hate The Wedding Ringer. Released in the January doldrums, backing Kevin Hart as its headline act and sticking by a title that sounds uncomfortably familiar to that other wedding movie from over a decade ago, not much was weighing in its favor. The movie, while entirely predictable and with the occasional questionably offensive joke, never becomes the broad, pandering slap-stick-a-thon its scant trailers make it out to be. Unfortunately, on the other hand, I’d be hard pressed to argue that anyone walking out of the theater this weekend will remember it come the Spring.

Kevin Hart plays Jimmy Callahan, the self-described wedding ringer, who sells a sort of best-friend-for-hire service to friendless grooms. At varying levels of service, he attends rehearsal dinners, talks up the groom to family, and gives a big, emotional...

Kevin Hart stars in the new comedy "The Wedding Ringer". In it, he plays Billy Callahan, a man whose business is providing best man services to friendless grooms-to-be who don't have anyone to fill said role. Josh Gad's character Doug Harris is one such person. He's about to marry Gretchen Palmer, played by Kaley Cuoco, a woman way out of his league and one whom he thinks would leave him in a heartbeat if she found out he was a complete loner. He makes up a best man named Bic Mitchum, and Hart has to fit that role and also provide him with a full complement of groomsmen, a feat he has never attempted before. Many comedic complications ensue, and the question is whether Doug and Jimmy can pull off their ruse and get Doug down the aisle, before his fiancee is able to find out what's really going on.

Having achieved some notoriety for selling a quarter-million copies of his direct-to-video debut, the autobiographical "I'm Bout It", rapper-writer-actor-entrepreneur Master P does it the old-fashioned way on "I Got the Hook-Up", courtesy of a pickup by Miramax's Dimension Films.

An offensive, foul-mouthed and just plain foul comedy steeped in stale stereotypes -- is there anyone left who still doubles over at the sight of expletive-spewing grannies? -- Master P's self-financed opus is obviously aimed at the young urban male market, which likely will prefer the video hook-up.

Master P (who started life as Percy Miller) teams with comic A.J. Johnson in the roles of Black and Blue, a pair of self-styled businessmen convinced that their number has come in when a shipment of cellular phones happens to be, uh, diverted onto their turf.

With a little know-how from sexy Sweet Lorraine (Gretchen Palmer), a cell phone fraud investigator who's willing to look the other way, Black and Blue get their communications operation off the ground -- but not before raising the ire of a bunch of thugs and a couple of (literally) two-faced FBI agents.

Busy music video director Michael Martin makes his feature debut with "Hook-Up", which is not surprising since the picture plays like a longform video, with performances to match.

Given that Master P's flimsy semblance of a script (for which he shares credit with Leroy Douglas and Carrie Mungo) is populated by tired caricatures and even lamer situations, it's understandable that his cast of familiar faces hasn't been given much in the way of artistic inspiration.

Still, Palmer (one of Ray Charles' "Uh-Huh" girls) shows a playful spark as Sweet Lorraine, and it's always nice to see John Witherspoon (as Johnson's lascivious, TV repairman uncle) and veteran Helen Martin (adding to her long list of wacky grandmother parts), even if their comedic talents are wasted here.

Calling on his considerable music ties, Master P managed to snag a cameo from Ice Cube (who wrote and starred in the vastly superior "Friday", the movie "Hook-Up" clearly attempts to emulate). Cube contributes a fresh tune to the soundtrack, which also features Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, C-Murder and, of course, Master P and is available on his highly successful No Limit Records.

As is becoming a common bonus these days, the picture signs off with a selection of blooper footage shown during the closing credits. Given what came before, the gesture seems rather redundant.

I GOT THE HOOK-UP

Dimension Films

in association with

No Limit Films and Priority Films

A Shooting Star Pictures production

A Master P film

Director: Michael Martin

Screenwriters: Master P,

Leroy Douglas, Carrie Mungo

Producer: Jonathan Heuer

Executive producer: Master P

Director of photography: Antonio Calvache

Production designer: Michael Pearce

Editor: T. David Binns

Costume designer: Jhane Isaacs

Music: Toomy Coster & Brad Fairman

& Beats by Da Pound

Color/stereo

Cast:

Black: Master P

Blue: A.J. Johnson

Sweet Lorraine: Gretchen Palmer

T-Lay: Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.

Grandmother: Helen Martin

Mr. Mim: John Witherspoon

Running time -- 93 minutes

MPAA rating: R...